How to Stream Vertical on Twitch
Streaming vertical means sending Twitch a 9:16 picture instead of the usual 16:9 one, so the stream fills a phone screen the way TikTok and Instagram do.
On Twitch this almost always means Dual Format, which is generally available: one stream carries both orientations and each viewer gets the one that suits their screen. The real question is how the vertical picture gets composed.
The short answer
- Use Dual Format, not a vertical-only stream. Twitch viewing still skews to desktop, and 9:16 leaves most of a monitor empty.
- Easiest route: let a server crop the vertical version out of the horizontal feed you already send.
- Best-looking route: a second phone shooting upright, so the vertical frame is composed rather than cropped.
- On OBS: a vertical canvas gives you full control, at the cost of encoding and uploading two compositions from one machine.
On Twitch, vertical means Dual Format
Twitch will accept a plain 9:16 stream on an ordinary stream key, and some guides still describe that as the way to stream vertical. In practice it is rarely the right call. That stream is vertical for every viewer, including everyone on a monitor or TV, where a 9:16 picture occupies a narrow strip in the middle of the player. Twitch viewing still skews heavily toward desktop, so a vertical-only stream trades away the majority experience to serve the minority one.
Dual Format removes that trade-off, and it is generally available to all Twitch users. One feed carries both compositions, Twitch serves the orientation that suits each viewer's device, and it all runs on a single stream key. Your horizontal output is unchanged, and mobile viewers get a picture that fills their screen. There is nothing to switch on either: it works automatically as soon as your streaming software supports Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting.
That is why the rest of this page is about how the vertical half gets composed. Vertical-only is worth considering in one case: a channel whose audience is already almost entirely mobile, streaming content that was shot upright to begin with. For everyone else, Dual Format is the answer. See what dual format streaming is for how one feed carries two orientations.
Three ways to produce the vertical picture
Something has to decide what belongs inside the 9:16 frame. These are the options, with what each one costs you. They are listed easiest first, not best first.
Cropped from your horizontal feed
Send your normal horizontal stream to a server, which crops it to 9:16 and follows the subject inside the frame, then delivers both orientations onward.
- One upload, both orientations, no extra local encoding
- Works from a phone as well as from OBS
- The same vertical output can go to other platforms too
- −The crop is decided automatically rather than composed by hand
- −A cropped 9:16 frame loses whatever sat at the edges of the wide shot
- −Adds a cloud hop, so a small amount of latency
From a second phone
Two devices feed the same pipeline: one phone held horizontal, one held vertical. Both orientations come from a camera actually framed for them, and hand rigs exist that hold both phones in one hand for IRL.
- Both orientations are properly composed, not cropped
- No extra encoding load on either device
- Each phone can be positioned independently
- −A second phone, a second data connection, and a second battery to manage
- −A rig to carry, which matters most on long IRL streams
- −Two shots to keep pointed at the right thing
From a vertical canvas in OBS
Lay out a second, vertical composition on your own machine, either with a vertical canvas plugin such as Aitum Vertical or with OBS's own multiple-canvas support, then send it as an additional output.
- Full control over the vertical layout
- Vertical-specific overlays you design yourself
- No cloud hop in the path
- −Encodes and uploads two compositions at once, roughly doubling local load and bandwidth
- −A second set of scenes to build and maintain
- −Not usable from a phone-only setup
Setting it up, step by step
The same sequence applies whichever of the three routes you pick.
Use software that supports Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting
There is no Twitch setting to turn on. Dual Format is generally available and works automatically as soon as you send the feed through software that supports Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting, Streamrun included. Twitch accepts both orientations on a single stream key and serves the vertical version to mobile viewers while desktop viewers keep the full-width one.
Pick how the vertical picture gets composed
Something has to decide what fits inside a 9:16 frame. That is a vertical canvas you lay out yourself in OBS, a second phone shooting upright, or a server that crops your existing horizontal feed and follows the subject inside it. The choice mostly comes down to how much local setup you want to run.
Set your vertical resolution
1080x1920 or 720x1280 at 30 or 60 fps is the standard vertical target, the same one TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts expect. If you are producing both orientations on your own machine, you need encoding headroom and upload bandwidth for both at once.
Point your encoder at the right destination
For Dual Format, one feed goes to a single Twitch destination and Twitch handles the rest. If a server sits in the middle, you point your encoder at the server instead and configure the Twitch destination there.
Check the framing on both screens
Run a private stream and open your channel on a phone and on a desktop browser. Check that faces and on-screen text survive the crop, that overlays are not sliced off at the edges, and that your alerts stay readable in the narrower frame. Vertical framing hides things that look fine in the OBS preview.
What usually goes wrong
Overlays sliced off at the edges
Alerts, chat boxes, and sponsor graphics designed for 16:9 sit outside a 9:16 crop. Either move them toward the centre or use per-destination overlays so each orientation gets its own layout.
A static crop that misses the action
A fixed centre crop works until you move. If the vertical version is cropped from a horizontal feed, it needs to follow the subject rather than sit in one place for the whole stream.
Running out of upload bandwidth
Sending two compositions from one machine means two encodes and two uploads. On a home connection this is often fine, on cellular it rarely is. That constraint is what pushes most IRL setups toward a second device or a cloud-generated crop instead.
Text that is unreadable on the crop
Game HUDs, scoreboards, and small captions survive a widescreen frame but disappear in a narrow one. Check anything text-heavy on an actual phone before committing to a vertical workflow.
How Streamrun fits into this
Streamrun covers the first two routes. You send a stream over RTMP or SRT from whatever you already use, and the vertical 9:16 output is created server-side while the horizontal output continues unchanged. The crop follows the streamer through the frame rather than sitting in one place, and the dual-format feed goes to a single Twitch destination. Because that happens in the cloud, it adds no local encoding or upload bandwidth, and it works the same from a phone as it does from OBS.
A Streamrun pipeline also accepts more than one input, which is what makes the two-phone route practical. One phone streams horizontal, the other streams vertical, both connect to the same pipeline, and each output takes the source that was framed for it. Neither phone carries any extra encoding load, since each one is sending a single stream.
Frequently asked questions
How do I stream vertical on Twitch?
Send your stream through software that supports Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting, then decide how the vertical picture gets composed. You can have a server crop the vertical version out of the horizontal feed you already send, shoot vertical on a second phone alongside your horizontal one, or build a vertical canvas in OBS and send it as an extra output. Dual Format then works automatically: Twitch serves vertical to mobile viewers and horizontal to desktop viewers from a single stream key, with nothing to switch on in your channel settings.
Do I need to enable Dual Format on Twitch?
No. Dual Format is generally available and there is no setting to switch on. It works automatically once you stream through software that supports Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting, which sends one feed carrying both orientations. You do not need to wait for a rollout or apply for access.
Should I stream vertical only on Twitch?
Usually not. Twitch will accept a plain 9:16 stream, but it is then vertical for every viewer, and Twitch viewing still skews heavily toward desktop, where a 9:16 picture leaves most of the player empty and small text becomes hard to read. Dual Format gives mobile viewers the vertical version without costing your desktop audience anything, so vertical-only mainly makes sense for channels whose audience is already almost entirely mobile.
Can I use two phones, one horizontal and one vertical?
Yes, if your streaming server accepts more than one input. Both phones connect to the same pipeline, one shooting horizontal and one shooting vertical, and each output takes the source framed for it. Both frames are then properly composed rather than cropped, and neither phone does extra work because each is sending a single stream. Hand rigs that hold two phones in one hand are available, which makes this workable for IRL.
Do I need OBS to stream vertical on Twitch?
No. A streaming server can generate a vertical output from any RTMP or SRT input. OBS is the route that requires the most local setup: a vertical canvas, a second set of scenes, and enough encoding and bandwidth headroom to run a horizontal output at the same time.
How do I stream both vertical and horizontal from OBS?
You need a second canvas and a second output. That is available through a vertical canvas plugin such as Aitum Vertical, and newer OBS releases have been adding native support for multiple output canvases. Either way you are laying out and encoding two compositions on the same machine, which roughly doubles the encoding load and the upload bandwidth required.
What resolution should a vertical Twitch stream be?
1080x1920 at 30 or 60 fps is the standard target, matching what TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts expect. Some streamers use 720x1280 to save bandwidth on mobile connections, which is a reasonable trade when you are streaming IRL on cellular.
Can I send the vertical version to TikTok or Instagram too?
Yes, and this is a common reason to produce vertical in the first place. Once a vertical output exists, it can go to any platform that accepts vertical video. A streaming server can route the horizontal output to Twitch and Kick and the vertical output to the mobile-first platforms from the same upload.
Related
What Is Dual Format Streaming?
How one stream carries both a horizontal and a vertical composition.
Automatic Vertical Framing
How a vertical crop follows the streamer instead of sitting in one place.
Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting
What the newer Twitch ingest path enables, and what it requires.
OBS Integration
Setting OBS up to stream through a server instead of directly to a platform.
Try Dual Format on your own stream
Stream horizontally as you already do, or add a second phone for the vertical shot. Either way the dual-format feed goes to Twitch from one stream key.